Janet and her little friends had a problem. That problem was the barefooted little boy who had recently come to live in the country. His home was the old house on the corner, in which no one had lived for years; at least no one except some wildlife, like birds and squirrels. The animals did not stay long after the arrival of Pete and his family, because Pete threw stones even at the bluebirds.
Janet was afraid of Pete. All the Primary Class children who attended the country school were afraid of the boy. He used to chase them and threaten to cut off their ears; once he whispered across the aisle to Betty that he would like to eat little girls, and she believed it.
The teacher said that Pete was a bad boy. There was never a school day when the child was not justly punished for something. It did seem as if no one ever said a kind word about Pete. Young Janet thought that even his mother was discouraged, because he cruelly teased his own brothers and sisters until they were in tears half the time.
No one in the country knew where Pete and his family lived before they came to the town. In reply to that question Pete said, “None of your business!” to the Sabbath school superintendent at church. At least he did attend church, but it did not seem to make a difference in his behaviour.
Janet was very much troubled about Pete. “He’ll be a dreadfully bad man,” she said to her mother, “unless someone can make him into a good little boy. The teacher says she can’t do it—she’s tried. She says it’s a problem. Even the children’s teacher at church cannot seem to help him.”
“I’ll tell you what to do, little daughter,” said Janet’s mother. “Try to think that Pete is the lovely boy he might have been if he had been born in a different house, for example, the Perkin’s house, and dear old Grandma Perkins was his own grandmother.”
“But—but my mind isn’t strong enough,” objected Janet. “Besides, that wouldn’t make Pete into a different kind of boy.”
“No,” agreed Wee Janet’s mother; “but if you could imagine Pete is lovely, you must treat him in a different way, and it might make him better. However, it will make you a better person and you won’t be so negatively affected by his behaviour.”
The following day Janet tried her best to do as her mother suggested. The day after she begged all the little girls in the Primary Class to treat Pete as if he were a good boy. At last Janet and the Primary Class gave it up. It did not seem to do any good and they were getting frustrated.
“He just gets worse and worse,” Janet told her mother. “He says he ‘don’t care for nothing or nobody’—that’s just what he said.”
“Well,” replied Janet’s mother, “there is one thing you can do, and that is, continue to always be polite and kind to him. Overcome evil with good. His behaviour may be bad, but if you treat him well and pray for him, maybe one day he will listen to the Lord and change his ways. But you cannot give up so easily. ”
Days passed. Every night when she said her prayers Janet remembered Pete. Each day she tried to be kind to him in every way known to a little girl eight years old and extremely small for her age. He threw the flowers she gave him into the dusty road and danced on them. He accepted her gifts only to destroy them, every one, and then called her “Cry-baby.” Although she felt like crying, she held herself very well and tried not to let it bother her, but in her heart it really did.
At last the Sabbath-school superintendent learned that Pete was born and had lived all his life in a small apartment in a great city. His father died in State’s Prison. After such a troubled beginning to his life, it seemed to Janet that there was almost no hope for Pete to ever change. But she kept on praying.
One Thursday morning the little girl’s mother asked her to take a loaf of bread to Aunt Nancy. Janet shuddered as she had to walk right by Pete’s house. Her mother, sensing her anxiety, tried to comfort and encourage her daughter. “You needn’t be afraid to go by the Pete’s house this morning,” she said, “because your father was told that Pete went fishing today.”
Janet was half way to Aunt Nancy’s when not far up the road she saw Mr. Mason’s red bull eating grass outside instead of inside the fence. He had somehow wandered out of his yard onto the road.
“Oh, that silly bull!” exclaimed the child, almost dropping her loaf of bread.
At that moment the red bull lifted his head. It is possible he thought that Janet was a big clover blossom. Anyway, the bull started walking briskly towards Janet. Mr. Mason always said the bull was harmless., but those horns did not look very harmless to Janet.
Janet, too frightened to move, screamed in terror. That scream brought a barefooted boy running over the fields. That boy was Pete.
“What’s the matter, Janet?” he called.
At that moment Pete looked beautiful to Janet. It seemed to her that she never saw a finer looking boy than Pete, in his ragged clothing, when he picked up a stick and made the bull turn around and go the other way.
“Come on, Janet,” called Pete. “I won’t let him hurt you. I’ll drive him back in his pasture and lock the gate. Just watch.”
After the bull was safely in his pasture Pete insisted on going to Aunt Nancy’s with Janet. “You might see a rattle snake on the way or some other danger,” he explained, as if such a thing were probable.
Janet was very thankful to Pete for saving her and for keeping her company. She finally arrived at Aunt Nancy’s house and went in to deliver her mother’s loaf of bread. She visited for a half another and then decided to go home so she would arrive before dark. When she left Aunt Nancy’s house she found Pete waiting at the gate. “Now I’ll take you home,” he said. “You’re too little to be out so late alone.”
Janet’s mother thanked Pete for taking care of her small daughter. Then she gave him a piece of gingerbread. After that she showed him Janet’s robin’s nest and told him all about how the mother robin worked to build the nest, and how long she sat on the eggs before the little nestlings were hatched. Father Robin scolded Pete so vigorously for staying and watching too long that Janet was afraid his feelings might be hurt. “You see,” she explained, “he knows that you’re a stranger.
“Now, Father Robin, don’t make such a fuss.” Janet said to the bird, “If Pete took care of me, he would take care of your babies, too. Wouldn’t you, Pete?”
“Sure!” Pete replied with a broad grin.
From that hour there was a change in Pete. He told Janet’s mother that he never knew anything about birds before; so she invited Pete to come every day to visit all of Janet’s birds’ nests and to read her bird books.
Before the end of the year, even the little girls in the Primary Class forgot, or appeared to forget, that Pete was ever a bad boy. He is in high school now, in town, and his mother never looks discouraged when she speaks of her eldest son, Peter, any longer.
As for Janet, to this day she sometimes wonders how it all came about. We can say that the prayers and kindness of young Janet and her friends helped to make the change. God had worked on the heart of the boy and used the young friends to help him change. You see Pete had a difficult upbringing and was mistreated by his father . His school mates in the city tormented and ridiculed him because of his father being in prison. Pete learned to hate. Until he was met with love.
People may misbehave but you do not know what experiences they made in life in the past to make them act badly today. Maybe all they need is some love and prayers and they will change. This is what Jesus did for us. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. “ Romans 5:8. Our sins placed Him on the cross. But yet He still loved us, and he asks us to do the same for others.